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bicepjai 6 days ago

Sincere question: do we have a good definition of consciousness to be able to say there are different ones? May be experience might be the right word ?

bandrami 6 days ago | parent | next [-]

"Altered state of consciousness" is a well-defined term in neuroscience; there's an inventory you can use to assess if a person is in an ASOC (actually three competing inventories, IIRC, though that may have settled down since I left grad school back in the Pleistocene).

ivape 6 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

How about “the current properties of your relationship with reality”. Adjust the properties, and your relationship with reality changes. For example, the properties of the relationship to reality of a six year old is different than that of the relationship to reality of a twenty year old. They are not conscious in the same way.

Experiences are byproducts once the system is set (adjust the properties, perceive reality based on that), and then experiences pop out. I would consider consciousness (a state) different from the byproducts of consciousness (the things that happen in that state).

rramadass 6 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

You might find the paper A landscape of consciousness: Toward a taxonomy of explanations and implications and discussion interesting - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40844824

calebm 5 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Consciousness means "felt experience", or the content of your experiences.

riffic 6 days ago | parent | prev [-]

qualia

miki_oomiri 6 days ago | parent [-]

That's a not a definition. Just another fuzzy word to say subjective experience.

gentooflux 6 days ago | parent [-]

One's state of consciousness is very much their subjective experience while conscious

miki_oomiri 6 days ago | parent [-]

Yes. But qualia, subjective experience, state of consciousness, phenomenal consciousness, etc. these are not good definitions (as asked by OP). These are just all talking about the same thing without a proper definition that would allow us to define its different states. Measure, quantify, understand, sort, etc etc.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_problem_of_consciousness

gentooflux 6 days ago | parent [-]

That seems a bit like trying to put a number to how hungry you are. "Experiencing a desire or need for food" doesn't even begin to describe the sensation, but that doesn't mean it's not a real phenomenon that can't be induced or adjusted in a fairly predictable manner